• On the basis of inscriptions, copper plates, records of foreign visitors the author states that Kanchipuram was a centre of Indic learning where Vedic, Baudh and Jaina subjects were taught.

From early historic times, Kanchipuram stood at the crossroads of knowledge, religion, and polity in South India. Kanchipuram, revered as Nagareṣu Kāñcī—“the foremost among cities”—occupies a unique place in the intellectual history of India. Ancient Kanchipuram functioned as a cosmopolitan centre of learning, attracting students, monks, philosophers, and scholars from across the subcontinent and beyond. Literary traditions, inscriptions, and foreign travel accounts together reveal a city where knowledge was cultivated across religious and philosophical boundaries.

It evolved into a pan-Indian centre of learning, drawing students, monks, and teachers across sectarian boundaries.

Unlike single-tradition universities, Kanchipuram nurtured multiple parallel institutions of learning, making it one of the earliest truly plural knowledge cities of Asia.

A Sacred City with an Academic Soul

Indian literary sources consistently associate Kanchipuram with learning. The Skanda Purāṇa and other Purāṇic texts describe Kāñcī as a mokṣapurī, but they also emphasize its role as a place where penance, debate, and scholarship flourished. Sanskrit works frequently allude to learned assemblies (sabhas), ascetics, and teachers residing in the city. Tamil devotional literature too reflects this image, presenting Kanchipuram not merely as a ritual centre but as an environment steeped in scriptural study and philosophical reflection.

This literary memory is reinforced by archaeology. The city was historically divided into distinct quarters—Śaiva Kanchi, Vaiṣṇava Kanchi, Jaina Kanchi, and Buddha Kanchi—each with its own institutions of worship and learning. 

This spatial organization reveals an important truth: learning was decentralised yet interconnected, sustained by royal patronage, temple economies, and monastic discipline.

Ghaṭikāsthānas: The Elite Centers of Higher Learning

One of the most distinctive educational institutions associated with Kanchipuram was the Ghaṭikā.

Ghaṭikāsthānas were advanced residential centres of Brahmanical learning, often supported by royal grants. Inscriptions and literary references indicate that Kanchipuram’s Ghaṭikā attracted scholars from across South India and the Deccan. Subjects taught included: Vedas and Vedāṅgas, Mīmāṃsā and Nyāya, Grammar (Vyākaraṇa) and Political and administrative theory

Kings themselves sought legitimacy through association with the Ghaṭikā, which functioned as both an academic and advisory body.

It will be interesting to study some of the inscriptional evidences to learn more about Kanchi as a center of excellence.

After the recent success of Kantara, there was a lot of speculation about the Kadambas, so, let us begin this journey with the Kadambas.

1. Talagunda Pillar Inscription (c. 450 CE)

Location: Talagunda (near Shivamogga, Karnataka). This pillar stands at the Pranaveshvara temple site, but its content reaches far into Kanchipuram’s legacy.

Date: Mid-5th century CE (reign of Kadamba king Śāntivarman, c. 455–470 CE).

Language/Script: Sanskrit verse, engraved in early Kadamba script (southern Brāhmī).

Issuing Authority: Commissioned under King Śāntivarman of the Kadambas; composed by court-poet Kubja.

Content and Significance: This famous record traces the Kadamba lineage and pointedly recounts how the dynasty’s founder Mayurasharman (Mayuravarma) traveled to Kāñchipuram – the Pallava capital – to pursue advanced Vedic studies. It describes Mayurasharman as “accomplished in vaidika (Vedic lore)” and how he, “accompanied by his guru and grandfather Veerasharma,” went to Kanchipuram to study the advanced scriptures. 

The inscription dramatically narrates that after being insulted by a Pallava guard during a sacrificial event, the scholar-priest Mayurasharman forsook his studies for the sword, eventually founding a royal line. Crucially, the Talagunda inscription attests to the importance of Kanchipuram as a center of advanced learning-it explicitly refers to the existence of a ghatika (educational establishment) at Kanchi in the mid-1st millennium.

This inscription attests to the importance of Kanchipuram as a center (ghatika) for advanced studies in ancient India. This is among the earliest epigraphic references to Kanchi’s role as a seat of higher learning, and is considered “very interesting” by epigraphists for confirming that a ghatika (literally “place of assembly/learning” was flourishing in Kanchipuram by the 4th–5th century. 

2. Velurpalaiyam Copper Plates of Nandivarman III (c. 850 CE)

Location: Found at Velurpalaiyam, near Arakkonam (Tamil Nadu), about 50 km from Kanchipuram.

Date: Mid-9th century CE (reign of Pallava king Nandivarman III, r. 846–869 CE).

Language/Script: Tamil and Sanskrit (written in Grantha script for the Sanskrit portions)

Issuing Authority: King Vijaya-Nandivarman III of the Pallavas; these are copper-plate charter inscriptions recording a land grant to a Shiva temple, with an embedded royal genealogy.

Content and Significance: Alongside administrative details, the genealogical verses in these plates preserve valuable historical tidbits about Kanchipuram’s educational institutions during early Pallava times. The plates recount that an early Pallava ancestor Skandasiṣya (Skandasishya) “seized from king Satyasena the ghatika of the Brahmanas.” This suggests that control over the Kanchi ghatikā was a coveted asset even in the power struggles of the era. 

Epigraphist V. Venkayya notes this “reference to a ghatika at this early period is very interesting,” and he links it to the same ghatika mentioned in the Talagunda pillar (thus corroborating that by ~ fifth century a learning center existed at Kanchi). The Velurpalaiyam plates further state that a later Pallava king – Narasimhavarman II Rājasiṁha (c. 700 CE) – “re-organised the ghatika of the twice-born (Brahmanas) and built of stone a [temple] for the moon-crested [Lord Shiva] comparable with [Mount] Kailasa.” This is an unmistakable reference to Rajasimha’s construction of the grand Kailāsanātha Temple at Kanchipuram. 

In other words, the Pallava monarch not only built Kanchi’s first stone temple (Kailasanatha) but also revived or restructured the ancient ghatikasthāna (educational guild) attached to it. 

These copper plates thus highlight Kanchipuram’s continuous stature as a ghatikasthānam (seat of learning) through the centuries: from being an object of contest in early Pallava times to undergoing royal patronage and reorganization in the 8th century. It’s also noted in scholarly footnotes that even after the war victories of the Western Chalukya king Vikramāditya II (who captured Kanchi in 740 CE), “Conjeeveram continued to be the seat of a ghatika in the beginning of the 8th century” – underscoring that the educational establishment at Kanchi endured upheavals. (Indeed, one of Vikramaditya II’s own Kannada inscriptions at Kanchi records that after his conquest he “did not confiscate the property of the Rajasimheśvara (Kailasanatha) temple, but returned it to the god”, showing respect for Kanchi’s temple and its associated institutions.)

3. Vaikuṇṭha Perumāl Temple Inscriptions (c. 8th century CE) – The Ghatika and a King’s Accession

Location: Vaikuṇṭha Perumāl Temple (Tirupparamēśvara Vinnagaram) in Kanchipuram city.

Date: Circa 770 CE (reign of Pallava king Nandivarman II Pallavamalla, r. 731–796 CE). The temple’s foundation and panels date to Nandivarman’s era, with the key inscription likely around the 750s–760s CE.

Language/Script: Tamil language in Grantha/Tamil script (the Pallava-Grantha script was used for both Sanskrit and Tamil inscriptions of this period; the record in question is a Tamil epigraph).

Issuing Authority: The Pallava court of Nandivarman II – the inscription appears as an explanatory text accompanying sculptured panels, rather than a typical royal edict. It may have been incised by court officials or temple functionaries during Nandivarman’s reign to commemorate historical events.

Content & Significance: The Vaikuntha Perumal temple is renowned for its series of sculpted friezes and inscriptions detailing Pallava history. One important Tamil inscription on the inner walls explicitly speaks to Kanchipuram’s academic repute and its intersection with politics. It records that in the mid-8th century, when King Parameśvaravarman II died without an heir and the Pallava kingdom fell into disorder, it was “the ghatikaiyars of Kanchi” – meaning the members of the Kanchi ghatika (assembly of learned Brahmins) – who took a decisive role in restoring stability. 

Nandivarman Pallavamalla, a 12-year-old distant relative from a collateral line, was invited and placed on the throne of Kanchipuram with the ghatika’s involvement. The inscription says that the learned members of the Ghatika of Kanchi were partly responsible for choosing and installing Nandivarman II as the new ruler, underscoring the influence and prestige of Kanchipuram’s scholarly institution in matters of state. This is a remarkable testament to how deeply the ghatika was entrenched in the city’s socio-political fabric. The episode also implies that Kanchi’s renown as a center of learning attracted talent even from afar – Nandivarman himself is said to have come from the remote Pallava lineage in Southeast Asia (according to later traditions), yet was accepted by the Kanchi scholars. 

In sum, the Vaikuntha Perumal epigraph (dated 759 CE in one portion) not only provides historical chronology but explicitly highlights Kanchipuram’s title as ghatikasthānam, a venerable “place of learning,” whose learned community (ghatikaiyar) wielded considerable authority.

4. Thirukachur Inscription (13th century CE.)- Tamil Scholarship in the Ghatika

Later Chola-Pandya period inscriptions show that the tradition of the ghatika continued well into the second millennium. An inscription from Tirukkachūr (Kacchapeśvara temple) – a site near Kanchipuram – dated to the reign of a Pandya king (Jatavarman Sundara Pandya, late 13th century) is particularly illuminating.

Location: Thirukachur, near Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu (about 20 km from Kanchi).

Date: c. 1250 CE (Pandya rule over Tondai-nadu).

Language: Tamil script and language.

Issuing Authority: A record under Pandya oversight, possibly a royal or local temple inscription.

Content: It lists subjects taught at a ghatika, and significantly, it states that Tamil itself was taught as part of the curriculum. The inscription mentions an acharya proficient in Tamil (“Tamilil karaikanda”) serving in the Ghatika, indicating that classical Tamil grammar and literature were included alongside Vedic studies. 

This is an important epigraphic acknowledgment of the place of Tamil learning in Kanchipuram’s educational institutions, traditionally thought to focus on Sanskrit and Vedas. It demonstrates that by medieval times, the ghatika’s scope had broadened to encompass the regional language and perhaps a wider array of subjects. The Thirukachur record underlines the continuity of the ghatika system up to the 13th–14th centuries and the evolving scholarly culture at Kanchipuram (and its environs). Notably, historians remark that ghatikasthanas persisted until at least the 15th century in South India, and Kanchipuram’s prominence in this network of traditional “universities” remained high throughout.

Jain Educational Center: “Jina Kanchi” – Inscriptions of Tirupparuttikkunram

Kanchipuram was also a famed center of Jain and Buddhist scholarship.

In Jain tradition, the city’s importance is preserved in the name “Jina Kanchi” (Jain Kanchipuram). The suburb of Tirupparuttikkunram (also called Jina-Kanchi), located just 10 km from the city center, housed a venerable Jain university-like establishment that finds mention in numerous inscriptions. The site’s main temple, the Trilokyanatha (Jina) temple, dates to the 8-9th century and became a magnet for Jain learning.

Multiple inscriptions spanning a millennium testify to Kanchi’s status in the Jain world: for example, an inscription of Pallava King Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha) in the 8th century (c. 720 CE) is found here, indicating Pallava patronage of the Jain institution. 

Subsequent records at Tirupparuttikunram – from the Chola era (11th–12th centuries) and the Vijayanagara era (15th–16th centuries) – detail continuous endowments to Jain monks and schools in “Jina Kanchi.” Notably, Medieval Chola kings like Rajendra Chola I and Kulottunga I, and later sovereigns like Vijayanagara Emperor Krishnadevaraya (who left a Kannada inscription in 1516 CE), all left epigraphs here. These inscriptions typically record gifts of land, tax exemptions, or funds to the Jain temple and its associated srāvaka (monastic) community. 

The very fact that the epithet “Jaina Kanchi” appears in these records for this location is telling: it highlights that Kanchipuram was regarded as a major center of Jain learning and religion, parallel to the Brahmanical Kanchi. The Jain monastery at Kanchi produced renowned scholars; for instance, the 8th-century Jain Acharya Mallisena is associated with Kanchi in Jain texts (though the epigraphs themselves mostly enumerate donations). 

The Jain inscriptions reinforce Kanchipuram’s image as a multi-denominational scholastic hub – a place where Jain ācāryas, much like their Vedic counterparts, enjoyed royal patronage and contributed to a thriving intellectual milieu.

Xuanzang and the Buddhist Universities of Kanchi

One of the most valuable external testimonies to Kanchipuram’s scholarly reputation comes from the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang), who visited the city around 640 CE. In his travel record, he describes Kanchipuram as a large, prosperous city inhabited by learned and cultured people. 

He notes the presence of numerous Buddhist monasteries housing hundreds of monks, many of whom were engaged in the study of Mahāyāna Buddhism, logic, and philosophy.

Xuanzang’s account is crucial because it places Kanchipuram within the pan-Asian Buddhist intellectual network, comparable—though smaller in scale—to Nālandā. His observations confirm that Buddhist education in South India was not peripheral but deeply integrated into the wider world of classical learning. Kanchipuram thus emerges as a southern counterpart to the great northern universities. 

Xuanzang’s account places Kanchipuram within a pan-Asian world of learning. Mokṣapurī Kāñcīpuram brings that vision into physical focus, tracing the city’s intellectual memory through fifty-one temples where learning, worship, and history converge. https://shop.bharatkewow.com/product/mokshapuri-kanchipuram-land-of-temple/

Conclusion

The epigraphic evidence, drawn from stone inscriptions and copper-plates alike, establishes Kanchipuram (Kāñchi) as a revered ghatikasthānam-a seat of learning – across many centuries. 

Inscriptions from distant regions (Karnataka’s Kadamba pillar and various Tamil copper-plates) explicitly mention Kanchi’s ghatika, underlining its subcontinental fame. Local temple inscriptions within Kanchipuram amplify this reputation, showing the ghatika’s active role in society – from educating princes to guiding dynastic succession. Jain records, on the other hand, give a complementary picture of a pluralistic educational center, home to Jain scholasticism at “Jina Kanchi”. 

Taken together, these inscriptions paint a comprehensive picture of Kanchipuram as a vibrant center of higher learning in Bharat’s heritage. Kings and commoners alike recognized this status, as shown by the many grants and honors bestowed upon its institutions. The city’s ancient epithet “ghatikasthānam, the place of the ghatika,” recorded in Pallava-era texts, was well-earned – a fact literally set in stone by those who witnessed its glory. Kanchipuram thus functioned as:

A training ground for scholars, A meeting point of philosophies and A bridge between North and South Indian intellectual worlds, as attested by Lord Shiva in Skandapurana, who declared that Kashi and Kanchi are his two eyes.

Sources:

1. South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. II – Velurpalaiyam Plates of Nandivarman III (translation and notes)

2. Epigraphia Indica Vol. III – “Kanchi Inscription of Vikramaditya II” (E. Hultzsch, 1894)

3. Talagunda Pillar Inscription – Epigraphia Carnatica 7 & Epigraphia Indica 8 (Kielhorn’s translation)

Author Dr Ketu Ramachandrasekhar   is the Program Manager at Bharatiya Samskriti Trust, a Non-Profitable Organisation dedicated towards the dissemination of Indic Knowledge Systems and resurgence of the Oldest Living Cultural way of life i.e. Sanatana Dharma. He has his Doctorate in Indian Epistemology and was selected as a Fellow from hundred young scholars across India for Studies in Neuro Aesthetics and Indian Rhetoric by Ministry of Culture, GOI. He was a part of Academic Team of scholars across Europe on discussion of Natya Texts. His expertise in Shaiva Pratyabhijna School is well recognised by scholars of Kashmir Shaivism and he has been a regular contributor to their Journals on the works and contributions of Acharya Abhinavagupta. He has several research articles and books to his credit which includes a detailed study of Abhinayadarpana of Nandikeshvara, Devi Mahatmya and others.

To read all articles by author

Also see/read

1. Movie by Benoy K Behl 52 minutes ‘The Imperial City of Kanchipuram’

2. Buddhism in Kanchi

3. Ghatika-An Ancient Educational Institution by Dr Chithra M

4. Kanchipuram is one of the seven holy cities for Hindus – informative 

5. Album Kailasanathar Temple

6. Album Varadaraja Perumal Temple

7. Album Five Rathas Mahabalipuram

8. The Cultural Glory of Kanchipuram in the 7th century